The sport of wake surfing, performing surfing maneuvers on a surfboard in the wake of a boat without using a tow rope, has become popular among water sports and boating enthusiasts. Wake surfing is similar to surfing on natural ocean waves, except it is performed on the waves formed behind a moving boat. However, wake surfing is limited to boats capable of providing good surfable waves at a safe distance behind the boat. Wake surfing requires a large wake pattern to enable the rider to perform surfing maneuvers. New boats have been equipped with various systems to generate the surfable wake. However, the creation of sufficiently large, steep, surfable quality waves using older conventional ski boats is difficult and potentially dangerous for the wake surfer, the boat, and passengers.
Conventional water ski boats are not designed to make waves but, rather, to minimize them in order to minimize power requirements and to provide the smooth wake patterns that high speed skiing requires. Thus, the goal of conventional ski boat designs are to lessen displacement, decrease drag, and enable the boat to travel faster with less energy.
In order to generate an increase in wake size, wakeboarders have attempted to overcome the design objectives of conventional water ski boats by adding heavy, static ballast to the boat. Such ballast is usually in the form of water filled bags, concrete blocks, or other such weighted objects that disadvantageously occupy inboard passenger space. One other significant disadvantage to static ballast is that it can easily lead to an unsafe overload condition for the boat and passengers.
Ballasted boats for wakeboarding will not necessarily create wakes with surfable quality at normal speeds. Therefore, creating a surfable wave with a conventional ski boat typically involves a reduction in speed to less than 15 mph along with the addition of ballast to the boat. At such speeds and weights, the waves created by the boat are typically within a few feet of the boat's transom, as well as the exhaust and propeller. This makes wake surfing using conventional ski boats difficult to perform, unhealthy, and potentially dangerous.